Raiders vote to decertify

The Raiders joined an expanding group of NFL teams which has voted to decertify the union in order to prevent a lockout in the event a collective bargaining agreement is not reached with management.

NFL Player’s Association executive director DeMaurice Smith met with the Raiders Thursday, a day after conducting a vote with the 49ers, who also voted to decertify. The number of teams which have voted for decertification is reportedly more than 20, with no team voting against it.

Zach Miller was voted the team’s new player representative, replacing Tony Stewart, who was waived in training camp. Miller had been serving as an alternate along with Ricky Brown since Stewart left the team. Brown and Bruce Gradkowski are the current alternates.

Decertification is a tactic which will enable the union to sue the league in the event of a lockout. Antitrust laws don’t allow unions to sue employers during CBA negotiations.

“We don’t want to end up there,” Miller said of decertification. “We would rather have our CBA done before then. It’s our answer if the owners prove to lock us out, that’s our answer for them if they want to take that step, but we want to keep working on the CBA and get something done before it comes to that.”

Running back Rock Cartwright vented some of his thoughts regarding negotiations on his Twitter account Thursday night after the meeting with Smith and remains frustrated by the lack of progress.

“They’re not even close to a collective bargaining agreement,” Cartwright said. “They’re basically a lot of money away. He said it’s been a stall. He was just kind of just talking to us and kind of letting us know exactly what’s going to go on so it’s kind of tough for me and for all of the other guys. If there’s a lockout, it takes a lot away from a lot of people.”

A concern among players is the possibilty of being without a medical plan in the event of a lockout.

Chris Kemoeatu put in a full practice for the first time in two weeks and is ready to return to start at left guard after he missed the game Sunday with sprains of his knee and ankle.

Ward went through a second consecutive day of practice in full pads, but safety Will Allen still has not practiced. Both Ward and Allen left the New England game with concussions.

“I’ve been here seven years,” Arians said, “and that’s the best two practices Hines had in five of them because he hadn’t practiced on Wednesday in a long time. But he wanted to prove to everybody he was healthy and, boy, he had two great practices and showed a lot of the younger guys how to do it.”

Troy Polamalu (Achilles) did not practice again, Nick Eason also missed again with an illness, and Brett Keisel (hamstring) went through another limited practice.

Lawrence Timmons (hip) went through his first full practice of the week as did rookie cornerback Crezdon Butler (thigh).

Watched the Bill Parcell’s special last night on the NFL network. All I can say is that I hope when he un-retires again, he comes to Oakland as the GM and revitalizes the Raiders back to the dynasty they once were. Parcells is a friend of AD and could get along with him. Based on what I saw, he could get the best out of the talent here and as important, make all of our coaches, including TC, better than they ever thought they could be. There is absolutely no doubt in my ind hat we could be in the SB within 2-3 years.

r8rwill

#263 great defense and running the ball can get the raiders to the “GAME” with either of our qb’s..is what i am saying.. we have the ingredients, and we are in position to be winners in sb 45(?)

Here’s my updated guesses for the rest of the season. We finish 8-8. If somehow we finish 10-6 and make it to the playoffs, than that would be great. And I would be happy to say I was wrong. But the realistic side of me tells me otherwise. 8-8 us still a huge improvement and who’s to say that won’t be enough to win the division. We would be 4-2 in the division and that would be enough for any tie breakers if needed.

The Denver and Indi games are very winnable. So that would be the 10-6. Let’s hope so. GO RAIDERS!

HairyBush

JB Says:
November 20th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Watched the Bill Parcell’s special last night on the NFL network. All I can say is that I hope when he un-retires again, he comes to Oakland as the GM and revitalizes the Raiders back to the dynasty they once were. Parcells is a friend of AD and could get along with him. Based on what I saw, he could get the best out of the talent here and as important, make all of our coaches, including TC, better than they ever thought they could be. There is absolutely no doubt in my ind hat we could be in the SB within 2-3 years.
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I was just going to say that